On a recent trip to Vietnam we decided to visit the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi. We had based ourselves in Hanoi, a city of some seven million people, and had been exploring for a week or so in outlying country areas and decided to visit a few sites in Hanoi itself.
Arriving at the entrance gates we were greeted with lines and lines of little school children waiting patiently to get in for their school excursion. We were surprised at how quickly the lines transitioned through the gates, and how well-behaved the kids were in the main. The image below shows some of them lined up dressed in their uniforms.
The grounds and Mausoleum itself are quite impressive are very well maintained and there's no shortage of things to see once there. Ho Chi Minh was a much-loved and revered leader in Vietnam and is afforded a great deal of respect. He lies within the building dedicated to him encased in a glass box and seems remarkably preserved. We filed passed the many guards, all armed with machine guns, and were ushered around the tomb in reasonably quick order. Stopping was not an option and as you can imagine taking photo's was strictly forbidden.
It was all a little creepy and uncomfortable especially since I was reprimanded by a guard for having my hands clasped (crossed) behind my back as I made my way past the body. Apparently this is disrespectful and everyone must file past with hand by their sides. Talking, smiling or emotion of any sort is also not tolerated. I accepted the stern reprimand and was then watched like a hawk the whole time I was in there. I behaved.
So, once out of the Mausoleum we headed around the gardens to see what was there. The day was a bit rainy, but not cold, so the photo's didn't really do the grounds and its attractions and justice, however there is certainly plenty to see and to keep a person occupied for a few hours.
Everywhere we went there were school kids. Hundreds and hundreds of them. It didn't seem crowded though as the grounds and Mausoleum area is very large.
The kids were funny though and we got a lot of entertainment from them. You see, to them seeing a very pale, blonde six foot tall woman was a bit of a novelty, or so it seemed. Everywhere we went the kids were were trying surreptitiously to take pictures of her. On one occasion we were lined up to go into one of the historical buildings and the kids were trying to get photos without getting caught and they all got scolded by their teacher. They all looked a bit surly after that and so I said to them, "you want picture?" and indicated taking a picture by holding my camera up. They all started smiling and jumping up and down. The teacher came back after seeing what was going on and tried to calm them down and we indicated it was ok.
The kids all crowded around my wife and to our surprise the teacher jumped in also and the impromptu photo session began. It was chaos! There would have been about two hundred or so who all wanted pictures and 10 minutes later we were still there. The picture below shows the group, after the photo session, filing into the building ahead of us after having their photos taken with my wife. It was all a bit odd however the kids had fun and we had the time. To be honest it was kind of fun for us too. The kids would all say, "Hello, goodbye," in english and wave when they passed us, not just the group we had photos with, but all of them. I think it was the only words they knew. Funny huh?
We had a really fun time that day and after the Mausoleum we visited the war museum and a couple of other places we found very interesting however our minds were focused on getting out to Ha Long Bay and the cruise in a traditional Chinese Junk that we had planned. The image below shows an image from there.
Vietnam as a destination isn't for everyone however we enjoyed our time there. Many of the people do not speak english, in fact most do not, and the one's that do speak it do so very badly however that didn't bother us too much. The people are generally friendly and accomodating and we felt pretty safe the entire time, even out in the country side where tourists may not normally go. The reason I say it's not for everyone is that it's so different to what most people know. We went to Hanoi in particular as a gateway to Ha Long Bay and as we preferred the less tourist-oriented option to Saigon however it is not necessarily set up overly well to cope with tourists. They'll get there though, and the attraction of friendly people, great food, amazing experiences and cost-effectiveness will see more and more people going there to visit.
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